Shoe-fastening



(NO Model.)

H. S. PULLMAN.

SHOE FASTENING.

No. 481,638. Patented Aug. 30.1892.

WITNESSES. NVENTOR.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT S. PULLMAN, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

SHOE-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,638, dated August 80, 1892.

Application filed October 15, 1890. Serial No. 368,225. (No model.)

To @ZZ wiz/0m it may concern.-

Beit known that I, HERBERT S. PULLMAN, of Meriden, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Clasps; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure l, a perspective view; Fig. 2, a longitudinal central section; Fig. 3, a tongueblank; Fig. 4, a base-plate blank; Fig. 5, an elevation of tongue when formed; and Fig. 6, a longitudinal section of base-plate, showing pintle-bearing.

My invention relates to the class of shoe clasps and buckles that are composed of two or more parts attached to opposite edges and adapted to engage each other for holding together a shoe, coat, or like article of wearingapparel. In such structures it is common to use a tongue on the one part and a plate with a series of openings on the opposite part of a shoe or other article, the several holes in the catch-plate or take-up being for the purpose of adjustment. In using such a clasp on a shoe the catch-plate is fastened to one quarter of the shoe by a strap looped through, an opening at one end of the plate, leaving the other openings for the reception of the tongue of the buckle member. The clasp or buckle is fastened to the other quarter of the shoe in like manner, and by inserting the tongue into one of the openings of the catch-plate and then closing the tongue into the proper position it forms a substantial and easily-manipulated locking device.

It is the object of my invention to provide a simple, safe, easily-manipulated, and artistic clasp or buckle to be used in connection With the ordinary style of catch-plate.

To this end my improvementconsists of a base-plate having a solid integral bar lying over and contiguous to the straight portion of the tongue when closed, pintle-bearin gs struck down in the lower portion of the base-plate, the base-plate bent upon itself, thereby forming a spring, which rests upon the tongue member, and the tongue slightly extending beyond the line of the pintles at their outer portions; and it further consists in details of these parts and their combination in a shoe clasp or buckle, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes the shoe-clasp as a whole; b, the blank of which the tongue is formed; b', the slightlycurved end of the tongue, and b b the pintles; c, the base-plate blank; d d, the pintlebearings struck transversely across the baseplate; @,the solid integral bar lying upon and contiguous to the straight portion of the tongue when closed; f, the portion of the base-plate which is folded upon the other portion and terminating at f; g, the straight portion of the tongue when formed; h h, the place of bending or folding the base-plate; 7c, a longitudinal section of base-plate before folding, and m m substantially the shape of the perforations in the base-plate before folding.

By reference to the accompanying drawings it will readily be seen that the perforations m and m', when the base-plate is folded or bent upon itself, will form one oblong hole for the purpose of attaching to the shoe or other article, as shown in Fig. l. The object of the shape of the perforation m is that it permits the straight portion of the tongue g to pass through the lower portion of the base-plate and rest against the bar f when the tongue is swung open on its pintles b b, the pintles resting in the pintle-bearings d d, the barf forming a stop to prevent too much motion of the tongue. The bar e serves the double purpose of preventing transverse expansion of the pintle-bearings d CZ and also forms a stop for the tongue when closed.

By reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the tongue at b projects beyond the line of the pintles b b. Vhen the base-plate is folded or bent upon itself, the bar f rests directly over the pintle-bearings d d, and the pintles b b of the tongue being in the pintle-bearings, it will be seen that in attempting to swing the tongue in either direction the projection b will come into contact with the bar f, which imparts a spring motion to the tongue. The pintle-bearings CZ cl are of substantially the same depth below the dividingline of the base-plate as the thickness of the IOO metal of which the tongue is formed. The bar e is struck up above the dividing-line of the base-plate substantially as far as the thickness of the base-plate metal, so that when the baseplate is completed the top portion presents a substantially-smooth surface, as best shown in Fig. 1, and a substantially-'straight line from end to end, as in Fig. 2.

The construction above described is that preferred by lne; but I do not limit myself to making the base-plate of a single piece, as it is evident that it could be made of two or more pieces clamped or otherwise fastened together.

I claim as my invention- In a spring claspor buckle, the combination HERBERT S. PULLMAN. Witnesses:

HENRY DRYHURST, JOHN TONER. 

